1. Field
An apparatus and a method consistent with exemplary embodiments broadly relate to a subscriber authentication module having a plurality of provisioning profiles, and more particularly, to a method of selecting a certain provisioning profile among a plurality of provisioning profiles and an apparatus using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) is a smart card that is tangible and may be inserted into a terminal configured to authenticate a user to access a mobile communication network to which the user is subscribed. The UICC may be referred to as a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card for a Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), and may be referred to as a Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) card for a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) or Long Term Evolution (LTE).
The UICC may store network information about a mobile network operator to which a user has subscribed, for example, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) and Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN), and user information, for example, Short Message Service (SMS) and a phonebook of a user.
A terminal having an UICC mounted thereon automatically performs a user authentication with respect to a mobile communication network, to which a user has subscribed, by using the information stored in the UICC, so that the user may conveniently receive mobile communication services through the terminal.
Meanwhile, a user may easily change a terminal by demounting or removing an UICC from the existing terminal, and mounting or installing the UICC onto or into a new terminal. In addition, a user may easily change a mobile network operator by replacing an UICC demounted or removed from the existing terminal with an UICC of a desired network operator.
There may be a structure for which it may be difficult to remove or demount an UICC from a terminal; for example, when an UICC is mounted in a Machine to Machine (M2M) terminal, it is difficult to replace the UICC from outside.
In addition, in order to improve durability, shock resistance and heat resistance than in the existing UICC having a detachable plastic structure, there is suggested a structure of an Embedded UICC (hereinafter, referred to as eUICC) that may provide the same service as that provided by a detachable UICC even if the UICC is provided in the form of a chip and is integrally formed with a terminal rather than a detachable structure.
The eUICC may provide the same network access authentication function as that of the existing detachable UICC, but due to its physical difference from the detachable UICC, there is burden to processing network accesses of multiple network operators by using a single UICC, leaving various issues unresolved regarding eUICC establishment/distribution/subscriber information security.
In particular, there is a need for a technology to select a certain provisioning profile in a terminal including an eUICC when one or more provisioning profiles are included in the eUICC.